1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and apparatus for reporting a condition, and more particularly to system, method, and computer program product for reporting a condition of a first entity to a second entity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typical reporting systems simply attempt to contact a person that is or is believed to be directly affected by a situation, event, hazard, occurrence, etc. In some typical systems, if for example, a person needs help as a result of the situation, the system can attempt to contact another person in order to provide aid to the person in need. These systems may also allow the person who is believed to be directly affected by the situation to be made aware of their plight. In other situations, a single designated party is contacted in case of an emergency or accident—examples include health care proxies, emergency contacts listed in health care forms, motor vehicle registration forms, etc.
These conventional technologies, however, fail to consider third parties or other close parties who may be concerned about the person's well-being. Given the vast amount of structured and unstructured information that is available today, others, who are aware (or believe they are aware) of a location of the person, may be concerned if they become aware of an event near the area where the person is (or is believed to be) located. For example, structured information is widely available through, police reports, accident reports, weather reports, road condition reports, etc. In addition to the above-mentioned structured information, unstructured information is also available through news reports on the internet, including photos and videos, radio and media broadcasts, along with other unstructured information, such as, for example, blogs, posts, tweets, updates, media postings, at a number social networking sites.
As a result of this widely available information, those who are concerned for the well-being of the person may become concerned for the well being of the person or entity whose condition is believed to be affected. However, those who are concerned have to resort to conventional technology in order to ease their concerns. For example, they may try to contact the person to inquire about their condition or they may have to wait for that person to contact them. Similarly, they may have to wait until they become aware of information regarding the condition of the person from a source other than the person, e.g., a news report, a social media posting, a health care worker, etc.
That is, before a concerned party relying on conventional technologies is able to confirm the person's condition, they may be required actually make contact with the person or wait until they receive additional information regarding that person's condition. As a result, the concerned party may have to wait for a substantial amount of time before they are able to ascertain the condition of the person and before they are able to ascertain whether or not the person has even been affected by the situation or event. In addition, it may be too late to take additional action or provide help to the affected person with the current mechanisms.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method of reporting a condition of a first entity to a second entity.